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I have a spline with an empty following along it using a Follow Spline Action node. Then I have a mesh object with a Curve Deform modifier binding it to the spline and a Copy Location constraint to make it follow the empty along the spline. The action repeats over time with delays. In addition, the mesh elongates as it moves along the spline. I have a variable delay between repeats. It works great.

screenshot

After various experiments and tutorials, I am using Omar's technique of instancing collections to replicate this hundreds of times over a surface. How do I access the individual meshes within the collections to apply the individual variations to them? Is this possible with this technique?

enter image description here

Okay, it would probably be generally beneficial to get an answer to this question anyway. I have made the pared down version as per the image and blend file below. As you can see, when you click on the instances you cannot see the objects in each associated collection. The original structure allows the movement of the empty along the spline which can be animated using nodes. The instanced versions will copy that movement. What does not seem possible is to vary the speed, timing, attitude or scale of the instanced collection objects. So using this method to create a squadron of planes for example would not allow the variations one might find in reality.

enter image description here

Graeme
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  • Have a look to the documentation: https://docs.animation-nodes.com/documentation/subprograms/loop/ Loop allows to loop over a list and apply something to it (your first image node setting here) – lemon Dec 29 '20 at 06:21
  • Hi lemon and thanks for trying to answer. I am familiar with loops but was having difficulties implementing what I wanted with them, which is why I looked at Omar's solution as above. I also looked into ChrisP's solution of instancing collections. In these approaches, the objects within the instanced collections are not differentiated as far as I can see, so the empties, the splines and the mesh objects all look the same. What I want to know is how to loop through the instanced meshes only when they are not identified as meshname.00x. Thanks. – Graeme Dec 29 '20 at 12:33
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    can u share file you are working on? otherwise we need to build entire thing from scratch. – Harisreedhar Dec 30 '20 at 04:24
  • @Graeme, ok. But as said by Hari you should share your file so that the whole context is clear (because above avoiding to recopy your nodes, that also gives where and how the initial objects are, and so why you need to filter the meshes). Also could you provide a link to this "Omar's technique" (as I see nothing special from above that is a particular technique and why...)? Please use http://blend-exchange.giantcowfilms.com/ to upload. – lemon Dec 30 '20 at 08:05
  • Hi guys. Happy new year! Here's the link to "Omar's technique". He is one of the developers of animation nodes. https://blender.stackexchange.com/questions/141232/animation-nodes-how-to-instance-multiple-objects-collection – Graeme Jan 01 '21 at 12:41
  • Regarding uploading the file, firstly it was quite complex with additional trees etc, so to make the issue clear I would need to create a pared down version, which I have made start on. In my question I was asking specifically if I could access members of the instanced collections as in the node list in the properties panel. I have since achieved the result I wanted going a totally different route so there's little purpose in wasting any more of you guys time. – Graeme Jan 01 '21 at 12:51
  • Okay - edited the original question, added the blend file and a new screenshot. – Graeme Jan 01 '21 at 13:36
  • @Graeme, I now see what you meant. No, you can't access/modify collection instance elements (either with AN or done manually). You need to loop over the collection and instanciate/duplicate each object individually. – lemon Jan 01 '21 at 18:40

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